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Longmont pothole work tripled from last year

By Scott Rochat

Times-Call staff writer

Posted:
03/15/2014 06:39:51 PM MDT

Updated:
03/15/2014 06:41:28 PM MDT

A driver avoids a pothole on South Pratt Parkway, near Delaware Avenue, on Friday. Longmont officials said they have three times as many work orders to repair potholes this snow season as compared to the same time last year. (Lewis Geyer / Longmont Times-Call)

Gary Winka needed this winter like he needed a hole in the ground.

As it happens, he got both.

Winka is Longmont's public works supervisor and, thanks to a cold and icy winter, he's had a lot to do lately. A bumper crop of potholes has sprung up all over the city, enough to make up three times last winter's workload.

That's not hyperbole, by the way. This "snow season" has had 90 work orders for potholes so far. The 2012-2013 season saw 30 work orders by the same date.

"These are not single holes," Winka emphasized. "A work order is defined as a street segment, block to block. So there may be two, there may be a dozen."

To measure it another way: last year by this time, Longmont had used five tons of patching material and spent seven days in February and March fixing potholes. This year, try 14 tons of patching material and a dozen days of work in the same time period.

Why so much? Blame the winter. Potholes come when there are numerous freeze-thaw cycles, where ice comes onto the road, melts, seeps into the ground and refreezes. Repeat that a few times and you have raised, undermined sections of the road just waiting to crack.

This winter, there's been a lot of opportunity. According to the city, its road crews have used about 3,000 tons of Ice Slicer so far this season, compared to 1,600 tons for the entire snow season (October to May) last year.

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That de-icer can also contribute to potholes down the line, Winka noted, when it has to be used in those quantities.

"It turns into brine," he said. "When that gets into the pavement and re-freezes, it's going to make more potholes itself."

What didn't make more potholes, he added, was the September flood.

"I wouldn't attribute the increase to being flood-related," Winka said. "It's been the same issue for us that it's been for the rest of the nation. It's been a long, long winter, with a lot of freeze-thaw cycles. Longmont is not necessarily unique this year."

The schedule for fixing holes is similar to the plan for scraping streets: start with the major streets, the connectors and anything near a school. But there are a couple of differences. First, potholes on the major streets get fixed on a clockwise rotation, so that the two crews that do the work don't get pinned down in one area of town. And second, while snowplows only hit a residential street in epic blizzards, pothole repair will come to a neighborhood eventually, especially if there's enough calls to suggest that the damage is causing repeated problems.

So-called "hot mix" asphalt — where the aggregate is heated before being laid down — is preferred for the work since it makes a stronger patch. But in the winter months, there's less road work, so demand for hot mix is lower, meaning less of it is available.

At this time of year, Longmont's main source for the mix is in Denver. That limits how much can be transported, since the mix has to be kept hot all the way back to Longmont. The city has one truck that can do that, enough to haul 3,000 pounds worth — which, in turn, covers about six hours' worth of work.

During February, Winka said, supplies were low enough that the city frequently had to use "cold mix" asphalt instead, which works as a patch but doesn't hold up as long. That's usually seen as a temporary solution until the road can be re-patched with hot mix.

"It depends on the traffic rates, but it usually holds for about four to six weeks," he said. "In a residential area with low traffic, it could last a year. On an arterial, maybe a month."

High-traffic areas are often repaired at night, he said, to protect both workers and drivers.

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